Odd One Out
by ArsinoeB
Summary: "It glowed when Lois touched it!" Lana's new bracelet confuses Clark. Clark/Lana, hints of Clark/Lois.


"That's a really nice bracelet," Lois complimented Lana when they were gathering the plates after dinner to bring them back to kitchen.

Lana put the pile of plates down to stare some more at her silver bracelet with a green-turquoise stone, and replied, "Thank you, Clark gave it to me yesterday."

"Wow, never would have thought Smallville had it in him with his fashion sense and all!" Lois marveled, her voice partially muffled because she had reached the kitchen counter.

"Thanks Lois!" Clark said sarcastically. He found Lana's eyes full with amusement, and they smiled secretively to each other, happily remembering the occasion he had presented his gift.

"It's native American," Lana explained when Lois was back for another round. "Here, you can look at it closer." She removed her bracelet, forcing Lois to put down her load to be able to take it from Lana. Lana and Clark left Lois to scrutinize the jewelery in order to make their own round to kitchen.

When they returned seconds later, Lois was still staring at the bracelet. Deep in thought she contemplated, speaking partially to herself, "I wonder how they were able to make the stone change color like that."

Surprised, Clark already hands full of glasses and a juicer and Lana with a heavy pot turned around to stare at her, and the diamond shaped stone in the bracelet was indeed pulsing lazily, emitting a very faint glow. It was the moment the world came crashing down on Clark, literally, as he dropped the load he was holding, and the glasses and juicer mashed to the floor. The amazement on both girls faces deepened only when they watched him gaping and finally sitting down.

"Clark are you all right?" Lana cried, first in his side, but Clark's attention was concentrated on Lois and how the bracelet still glowed in her hands. He felt nauseated and dizzy, and the worst part was that he didn't know what any of this meant. Was the bracelet telling him that _Lois_ was his soul mate. _Lois_, of all people? Or was it just a weird coincidence, chemical reaction of the stone to Lois' acerbic being?

Thoughts confused, he decided simply to concentrate on the present and not to care about the bracelet, at least not before he would have time to think it trough. But he could not stop himself from looking at Lois, who was worriedly glancing at him. "Smallville, what happened?" she asked. "I've never seen you like this."

Lana was frantically looking at every direction and Clark realized she was searching for Kryptonite that would explain his state. "No, I'm okay. Really," he tried, but neither of the girls appeared to believe him. Lois came closer to check on him, and Lana tried to discreetly search his clothes while trying to mask her maneuvers as helping him to stand up.

Drastic measures were needed, and he gulped once before asking, "Lois, would you mind leaving us alone for a while?" Lois raised her eyes to look at him, and he saw a flicker of hurt cross her face before she concealed her features and replied, "Of course, but tell me if there's anything I can do." She put the bracelet on the table and went outside, and Clark's hearing followed her process to the barn where Shelby joined her.

"Lana, I'm all right," he tried once more when they were alone, but Lana was picking the bracelet from the table, as if it were an extremely nauseating and poisonous snake, the stone once again restored to its original color of dull green.

"Lana, _no_!" he said as Lana dropped the bracelet in the pot and put the lid on, apparently under the impression that both were made of steel. "No, it's not Kryptonite! Or at least it doesn't affect me at all! I was just shocked to see it glowing, feared for kryptonite, but it didn't—Just got frightened," he finished lamely.

Lana stared at him, incredulously. "I don't care," she stated. "It's better we get rid of it. It could still somehow affect you. It glowed Clark! That's not normal, we have to destroy it. You influence it somehow." She explained frustrated and eyed the pot containing the bracelet warily and disgusted, and Clark could no longer stand it, because he had cherished the bracelet and the promise of hope it had held for such a long time.

"No, it pulsed because of Lois!" he blurted, suddenly angry. "She touched it, and it glowed."

That stopped Lana for a moment, and after a while she admitted reluctantly, "Yes, you're right. But what did she do to you then, Clark?"

That was a loaded question if Clark had ever heard one. "Lana..." he started, but faltered. What could he say to her? _"The bracelet revealed Lois and me are destined to be together?"_ sounded extremely ridiculous. But he didn't really want to lie to Lana either

"I don't know!" Clark responded half-exasperated, half-scared, but he could not meet Lana's eyes because he actually knew why. Unfortunately Lana was an expert at noticing when he was less than honest with her, and asked, "What are you not telling me, Clark?"

He knew it was a bad idea, but the situation was too raw and he hadn't had time to rationalize it just yet, so he simply told her the truth. "The bracelet was Kayla's—remember the native American girl—and her grandfather—"

"What!?" Lana exclaimed, but he silenced her with one of his pained expressions.

"She told me the bracelet was for my soul-mate and that's why I gave it to you," he said, and at the mention of soul-mate Lana's expression turned tender and she went to fish the bracelet from the pot amongst the leftovers of Bologna sauce and started to clean it with a napkin.

"Oh, Clark!" she sighed and kissed his cheek. He was ready to celebrate how well things had turned out when Lana straightened and asked the very thing he had tried to avoid. "But how Lois relates to any of this?" she frowned and Clark could only watch in silent horror and apprehension as understanding dawned.

"It glowed when Lois touched it!" she exclaimed and turned to look fully at his horrorstuck face. Suddenly she fell on the nearest chair laughing so hard that tears fell from her eyes.

"You—you thought—_you actually thought_ Lois was meant to be your soul-mate," she giggled uncontrollably and Clark's indignant expression seemed to amuse her even more. "You were so scared that you let all the glasses fall. Oh my God!" she wiped her eyes and continued her laughter, and Clark could only stare at her incredulously.

"You poor baby!"

And the most confusing thing was that Clark was suddenly furious, angrier than he had seldom been before. "Don't laugh!" he growled, and Lana stopped abruptly, looked at him and came to to hug him consolingly.

"Clark, it is only a piece of jewelry. Don't let it worry you. Trust me, you are not in any danger of ever ending up with Lois," she pleaded, a hint of amusement in her voice.

But her words only reinforced the sentiment that this was one of the occasions Clark felt ironically he and Lana were so fart apart in thoughts that they could have been—(_were!_)—from different galaxies. But he was hardly fair to Lana, he had to reluctantly admit, as his thoughts were a jumbled mess he couldn't solve either.

And it didn't help at all that a part of him kept thinking this was a relief as it might explain... But he was not ready yet to wander to parts where Kal reigned. "There's nothing wrong with Lois!" he injected, a little too defensively, and Lana stared at him, surprised.

"Of course not. But I know what you think about each other, Clark. The two of you together would be like—"

"—like hot fudge and halibut?" he injected half-sarcastically, and knew instantly it was the worst possible combination he could have come up with.

"That's one way to put it." Lana sniggered, but once again they were completely on different pages. And he thought Lana actually didn't know much about his and Lois' friendship or interactions. Because if she did, she might have picked what had really frightened him, he understood with sudden clarity. He had actually, for a fraction of second, liked the idea that Lois would be something more to him, entertained the notion of having her awestruck over him or in l...

He stopped. Lois liked him enough as friend and _he was in love with Lana_. Time to clean up the mess, once more caused by his ever-so-meddling Kryptonian ancestors. He forced himself to relax and smile at Lana. "Yes, it is."

He took the bracelet Lana was still meticulously cleaning, held it upright and smiled, this time genuinely with his eyebrows raised. Lana nodded, smiling back and he clasped carefully the bracelet around her wrist.

"Time to make my own choices," he declared and bent down to kiss Lana.

After a while a sneeze interrupted them. Lois, framed by the kitchen door with a surrounding halo from the setting sun, wore a half-smirk on her face. "I came back to use the bathroom," she explained. "But I see the storm has been successfully calmed down." She came in with Shelby in tow, who was jumping and circling in her feet, hindering her proceeding to the stairs. She didn't quite make it and had to grab for balance the edge of the kitchen counter right next to Lana.

"Oh, sorry Lana," she apologized and continued her journey towards the bathroom, her gaze firmly fixed on Shelby now. But Clark and Lana were frozen on the spot, and Clark knew Lana had seen the same faint, familiar glimmer of turquoise of the stone, once again.


End file.
